


out there in the desert

by RaisingCaiin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (Ish) - Freeform, Character Study, Gen, Ghosts, Identity, Skywalker Family Feels, Tatooine (Star Wars), Unreliable Narrator, nameless narrator - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaisingCaiin/pseuds/RaisingCaiin
Summary: There’s a girl out there in the desert, accordin’ to Old Ma Islin.Out past town, she says. Past the outpost, past the wreckage, past the road.Out on the ruins of the old Skywalker farm.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	out there in the desert

**Author's Note:**

> (guess who's now seen TROS in theaters three times) 
> 
> (and yes, the old woman probably has a canon name in the visual dictionary or somewhere but this is my take and im sticking to it)

There’s a girl out there in the desert, accordin’ to Old Ma Islin.

Out past town, she says. Past the outpost, past the wreckage, past the road.

Out on the ruins of the old Skywalker farm.

Came outta nowhere, says Old Ma Islin. Landed in some kinda fancy-once city-skimmer, nose all done in an’ thrusters glowin’ bluer than anythin’ else you’ll see hereabouts. 

Yeah, yeah – runnin’, by Old Ma Islin’s guess. Got the eyes, she says, the look, a’ someone who’s seen a thing or two, done a thing or two, an’ prolly more besides.

Yeah, sure the war’s done, but there‘s always more out there to be runnin’ from. Atta a guess? Warlords, mop-ups, profiteers, debts – hells. Losing side, winning side, everyone?

No, I don’t need t’ have been off-world to guess that. You think anyone higher up – either side, any war – ever cared about the Outer Rim? Shows what you know.

Bet she knows that too, this supposed girl out there in the desert. Looks haunted, accordin’ to Old Ma Islin – always checkin’ over her shoulder for ghosts. Smilin’ at ‘em, talkin’ to ‘em, too.

Good thing she’s alright with ‘em, I suppose. She tries to claim the old Skywalker farm, then she’s got a handful a’ ghosts to reckon with.

Nah, nah – happened before your time, durin’ the Long War. Place got torched – stormtroopers, they say, sent all the way outta Mos Eisley, express to kill the Skywalkers. Never found out for sure though; also never found out why. Good neighbors, Owen an’ Beru, an’ sure their boy had a bit too much air beneath his hair but he was alright. No ties to nothin’ or no one on either side of the War, any of ‘em, so. Shouldn’t’a been any reason why stormtroopers would come for ‘em, any reason why they’d burn the farm an’ everyone on it, down into the sand.

Yeah, ‘ve heard that rumor too, but – it’s just wishful thinkin’ on the Darklighter kids’ parts. No way the nephew woulda been out when the fire was set. No way he coulda turned up in Mos Eisley, an’ gotten off-world, an’ gone on like that, a hero of the Rebellion. Nah, the Skywalker nephew died out there on the farm, same’s his aunt an’ uncle, an’ if the girl digs deep enough then she’ll find his boots, an’ his bones, out there same as Owen an’ Beru’s.

Yeah. Because they’re still out there, the Skywalkers. She’ll hear their screams ‘round the compound, see their faces in the walls. Feel their hands on her shoulder tryna pull her away, an’ it’ll just be them tryna save her from that place.

Nah, nah, I mean it. Why d’ you think such a prime spot h’an’t been claimed by anyone else, all these years?

Got an astromech with her, says Old Ma Islin. Little white an’ orange thing, though – too small t’ help her dig or carry or empty the moisture extractors. And she’ll have a helluva time findin’ hands to help her work the place full-time. We all have enough ghosts of our own, without addin’ on the ghosts of the Skywalkers.

Still. If Old Ma Islin h’an’t been on the pulp, and she’s tellin’ the truth, that there really is someone out there – hope she stays awhile, this girl in the desert. Wouldn’t mind droppin’ by to see a new face, wouldn’t mind stoppin’ over a day to make sure she ain’t scared too bad with the ghosts an’ she knows how to run an extractor.

Nah, nah – in the end, it don’t matter what she’s runnin’ from. Family to keep family company, and none a’ us would say no, outright, to havin’ neighbors out that way again. 

Oh. You hadn’t heard?

She’s a Skywalker too, says Old Ma Islin.


End file.
